Ice tray



J. N. SALER Sept; 19, 1939.

ICE TRAY Lled April 2s, 1.938

INVENTOR JULES N. SALER.

, 'ATTORNZ Patented Sept. 19, 1939 UNITED STATES ICE TRAY Jules N. Saier, Springfield, Masa. assignor to Westinghouse Electric 3: Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 23, 1938, Serial No. 203,789

1 Claim. (Ci. 62-4085) My invention relates to liquid congealing apparatus, and particularly to liquid congealing apparatus for forming ice cubes suitable for domestic use.

i It is an object of my invention to provide improved grid structures for congealing ice of a size suitable for domestic use.

It is another object of my invention to provide improved liquid congealing apparatus of the type from which ice is removed by mechanical force as contrasted with. the use of heat; and furthermore, to so construct a grid structure that upon freeing the ice therefrom by mechanical gorce, the ice does not drop out of the grid strucure.

It is still another object of my invention to provide improved flexible grid structures which are so constructed that ice does not fall out when the grid structure is flexed to break the ice bond i between the ice frozen therein and the grid structure, when the grid structure is held in an upri ht position.

These and other objects are effected by my invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of an ice panand grid structure and illustrates one preferred form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the ice pan and grid structure shown in Fig. 1 with parts thereof broken away for clearness:

Fig. 3 is a view of the grid structure taken on line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the grid structure taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 3; and,

Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of a second embodiment of my improved structure.

Referring specifically to the drawing for a detailed description of my invention, numeral ll designates an ice pan preferably formed of relatively rigid stamped aluminum and embodying end walls I 2, side walls i 3 and a bottom wall I4. A removable grid structure indicated generally at l5 cooperates with the ice pan l I to provide a plurality of cells [6 forming ice cubes II.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated, a flexible grid structure preferably-formed of a corrosion-resistant material such as stainless steel is utilized. The main features of the grid structure are disclosed and claimed in Saler Patent 2,037,519, granted April 14, 1936. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the grid structure If: is formed of stainless steel sheet material bent to 113} a Zigzag longitudinal wall member l3 and a plurality of transverse wall members I! extending outwardly from opposite sides of the longitudinal wall member. The longitudinal wall member I8 is formed of two contiguous sheets of metal 2| 3 and 22 and the transverse wall members l9 are likewise formed of two contiguous sheets of metal 23 and 24. The sheets 23 and 24 of the transverse wall members are connected at their outer ends preferably by a fold 25, thus forming an outer 10 upper corner 26 and an outer lower comer or radius 21. (See Fig. 3.) The sheets 23 and 24 are turned outwardly at the inner extremities and'are fastened to the respective sheets 2| and 22 of the longitudinal wall member. The sheet 2| and thesheets 23 and 24 of the transverse wall members I! which are fastened thereto are preferably formed of a single integral strip of stainless steel thus forming one half of the grid structure; and the sheet 22 and the sheets 23 and 24 of the transverse wall members I! fastened to it are formed of a second integral strip of stainless steel, thus forming the other half of the grid structure.

As shown in Fig. 2, the fold 25 extends from 25 the upper corner 2 of each transverse wall member l3 to near the bottom of the edge thus formed and the sheets 23 and 24 are not otherwise connected at their outer edges, except as hereinafter described. When the sheets 23 and 24 of the 80 transverse wall members are folded at 25, and the radius is cut at the bottom corners 21, there is excess metal attached to each sheet at the radius. The excess metal is trimmed, and both the sheets 23 and 24 are bent substantially at a 45 angle to the vertical in the same direction, thereby form- Y ing flaps 23 which extend partly around the radii or corners 21. The two halves of the grid shown in Fig. 1 are identical for manufacturing reasons and the flaps 23 on the respective halves, therefore, extend in opposite directions. The flaps 29 prevent the ice cubes I! from falling out of the grid structure I! when the ice bond between the grid structure and the ice cubes is broken by mechanical ejection.

I have provided mechanical ejecting means for removing the grid structure It from the ice pan II and for thereafter imparting relative movement to parts of the grid structure by flexing. The mechanical ejecting means comprises a pair of lever members 32 pivotally fastened at 33 to each end of the grid structure l5, and having portions adapted to bear on the end walls I2 of the ice pan when the levers 32 are rotated out- W ldly, thus multiplying the force applied by the 36 and the ice pan. Handle portions are attached to the leverage members 32 so that the leverage means are easily operable. After the grid structure I5 with the ice frozen therein is removed from the ice pan II, the handles 35 are grasped and relative movement is applied to the parts of grid structure l5 through the leverage members 32, by twisting or bending the flexible grid structure IS. The ice pan l i is preferably waxed to facilitate removal of the ice therefrom.

As shown in Fig. 3, the sheets 23 and 24 of the transverse Wall members is are preferably welded as shown at 31 at the bottom corners of the transverse wall members to impart stifiness' to the grid structure as force is applied upwardly at the ends thereof, to facilitate removal of the grid structure and'ice from the ice pan ll. As shown in Fig. 2, the sheets 2! and 22 of the iongitudinal wall member welded together at several points, indicated by the numeral 38, to prevent undue spreading of those sheets when the grid structure I5 is flexed.

After the grid structure i5 is removed from the ice pan H, and is flexed to release the ice cubes I! from the grid structure, the flaps 29 prevent the ice cubes in the cells intermediate of the four corner cells from falling out of the grid structure, so that the ice cubes may be readily picked out of or from the grid structure as desired. Heretofore, in grid structures used with mechanical ejectors, the ice cubes many times would fall out of the grid structure onto the floor, or into the sink, where they naturally become dirty and contaminated so that it was necessary to wash them. Obviously, handling the cold ice cubes is undesirable, and washing wastes ice. By utilizing my invention, the ice cubes remain in the grid structure and the aforementioned disadvantages are obviated.

A second embodiment of my invention is shown in Figs. 5 and 6 and is shown applied to a flexible grid structure such as the grid structure l5 illustrated in connection with the first embodi- |8 are also preferably ment of my invention, and like reference numbers are, therefore, used for like parts. In the second embodiment of my invention, however, the sheets 23 and 24 of the transverse walls I! are bent at 45 angles in opposite directions at the bottom corners 21', thus forming oppositely extending flaps and 4|, respectively, and extending about the radii of the bottom corners 21.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that I have provided improved grid structures for liquid congealing apparatus of the mechanical ejection type. Although I have shown my invention ap-' plied to a flexible grid, it is obvious that it is not limited to use with that particular form,

While I have shown my invention in two forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claim.

What I claim is:

In liquid congealing apparatus, the combination of an ice pan, a removable grid structure disposed therein and cooperating therewith to provide a plurality of ice cube-forming cells, said grid structure embodying a. longitudinal wall provided with corrugations to render it extensible and a plurality of spaced walls projecting transversely from opposite sides thereof and having upper and lower corners at their outer extremities, at least some of said grid walls being movable relative to each other, means for forcibly breaking the ice bond between the ice cubes and the ice pan and for imparting relative movement to said movable grid walls, and means associated with the outer lower corners of said transverse walls for supporting ice cubes when the bond between them and the grid structure is broken by said relative movement of the movable grid walls.

JULES N. SALER. 

